The FBI appeared to finally be doing its job this week, at least to a small degree. The federal law enforcement agency has been under heavy scrutiny from Republicans for years related to President Biden and his son, Hunter.
Layers of dark secrecy unfolded this week as a key FBI informant was exposed as a fraud. The informant was considered to be “highly credible” during an investigation of Hunter Biden. That credibility vanished after the informant was exposed in a recent criminal case.
The criminal charges follow the informant’s assessment of the business dealings of Hunter Biden and a Ukrainian company, and how it all relates to Joe Biden.
From Fox News:
Special Counsel David Weiss has charged an FBI informant with giving false information after he alleged that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden were paid millions in exchange for their help firing the Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.Alexander Smirnov, 43, is charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record during FBI interviews. He was arrested at a Las Vegas airport on Wednesday after a federal grand jury returned an indictment. He faces up to 25 years in prison.
The false statements surround information Smirnov relayed to the FBI in June 2020. Smirnov is accused of telling the FBI, for the first time, about two meetings he had four to five years earlier. These meetings supposedly were with executives associated with Burisma and they allegedly admitted that they hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.”
Joe Biden would have been vice president at the time of said meetings. The indictment alleges that, while Joe Biden was still in office, Smirnov said the Burisma executives paid $5 million to each of the Bidens. That information, according to the indictment, was allegedly false and Smirnov claimed the Bidens were paid so that Hunter Biden, using his dad’s influence, could thwart a criminal investigation into Burisma being conducted by the then-Ukrainian prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin.
Democrats jumped on the indictment as evidence that the Republican-led impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden is baseless. They mocked Republicans for continuing with their efforts after news broke of the Smirnov indictment.
Republican leadership in the House countered and said it was about time the FBI acted on this information. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said the FBI has stonewalled the release of public information related to Smirnov, the Bidens, and Burisma.
Republicans said their requests for access to a form FD-1023, used by the FBI to document investigation information, ultimately spurred the FBI to act against Smirnov.
“The FBI’s actions in this matter are very concerning,” Comer said. “The FBI had this form for years and it appears they did nothing to verify the troubling claims contained within the record until Congress became aware of and demanded access to them.”
Comer said the federal agency informed him that the source, Smirnov, was “credible and trusted, had worked with the FBI for over a decade, and have been paid six figures.” That all fell apart with the indictment.
Comer also said that the form FD-1023 isn’t part of the ongoing impeachment inquiry into the president. He said the inquiry “is based on a large record of evidence, including bank records and witness testimony, revealing that Joe Biden knew of and participated in his family’s business dealings.”
The House GOP leader said that the inquiry will continue to “follow the facts” related to reforming federal ethics laws and whether impeachment articles are necessary.
“Just this week, we had another witness confirm Joe Biden was the brand being sold by the Bidens around the world,” Comer said. “President Biden continues to lie to the American people about this matter and the American people demand the truth and accountability for any wrongdoing.”
Key Takeaways:
- “Highly credible” FBI informant just got indicted on federal charges of lying about the Bidens.
- The FBI informant previously said the Biden family was paid by a Ukrainian energy company.
- Republicans said the charges don’t affect their ongoing impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.
Source: Fox News
